1. Field
Example embodiments of the following description relate to a method and apparatus for searching an image using a feature point, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus which compress a feature point extracted from an image and search the image using the compressed feature point.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an increase in use of mobile terminals, such as smart phones, the frequency of image searching using the mobile terminals is increasing. Users may photograph an object using a mobile terminal equipped with a camera. Then, the mobile terminal may search an image of the photographed object.
In this instance, for higher search efficiency, the mobile terminal may search the image using information representing the object, rather than using the entire image of the photographed object.
Since a storage medium of the mobile terminal has a limited capacity, the mobile terminal may not be able to store image search results with respect to all photographed objects. To solve the limitation, the mobile terminal may transmit a search query to a remote server and receive a result of the search query. In this case, however, since the search query corresponding to the object has a large volume, communication costs may increase.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method for searching for an image with a high search efficiency and a low communication cost.